Looking to upgrade rigs and thinking about a surface drive....run mostly river bottoms ,flodded timber, and the occasional marsh...queztion is which surface drive is better for harder bottoms such as flooded corn field also want to be able to three guys dog and gear so what are your opinions on motors and hull combinations?

Surface drive is all wheel drive, long tail is four wheel drive, if you are going to hunt deeper water surface drives are great where we hunt we push the surface drives out of the way so we can get through all day long (shallow hard bottoms ) the surface drives just can't get down and dig as well. They are a lot faster just not as much bottom end.

Where are you hunting? Midwest? If so, go see the guys at Illowa Marine. They are a sponsor here and have surface drives and long tails. They hunt flooded fields and have some experience with those conditions with both set ups. May even be able to demo both. The owner is on here...username is Muddoctor.

They will be a good source of info for both setups.


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We ran a 24hp LT on a 1546 express flat bottom for years. Ran great for two, wasnt enough boat for three if we had any gear and decoys. That motor is now on a 1744 mud hull (flat smooth bottom, welded). Carries three plus decoys fairly well. It's no speed demon, but it gets on plane and gets him out if it got him in there. He (we sold it 4 years ago) wishes he had a bit more motor, but he can get that thing into our blinds when we still can't in our surface drives (not enough water, harder mud). For that load and terrain, the 27hp or 35 hp pushing a 17 or 18 footer with a 48 inch bottom ought to be good in very little water and should serve you well. As far as surface drives in the harder bottoms, I defer to people with setups that handle that well and their expertise. We don't get as far in ours, but we don't have the right setup, either, to go where the longtails go in the areas we primarily hunt (boat too heavy and short, no mods on motor, etc).

Blue Shamu offers very good advice. Experience for yourself if you can hook up with them.

Crutch, if 3 guys and gear is the norm you will need an 18x48 true flat with a 27-35 longtail. Long tails have a smaller prop and better reach which helps with the hard bottoms. If 2 guys and gear is the normal load you could step down to a 16x48 23-27 longtail. I hunted an east coast Florida impoundment a couple weeks ago with hard bottom shallow water conditions and it looked like a surface drive junkyard. All makes and models stranded after coming off plane. I don't know about other manufacturers but I have godevil put a heavy cup in my prop so I can bump around at low rpm . Good luck and post back with what you decide.

i have a 23 hp gd lt on a mod v jon boat...runs good until the third guy jumps in....its a 14 48 i was thinking about getting a weldbilt crawdad because of the light weight design and spacious floor plan...also think the v fron would help naviagating thick woods....also the price is right thinking 1648, or a 1742......i thought longer skinny boats were better for longtails but i could be wrong....how would the 23 push the 1648 with 3 guys?

Crutch, I ran a 1648 landau flat with a 25gdlt. With 3 guys and hunt gear ( 2 on center bench gear in front) speed was fine ( about17) it was just cramped conditions and harder to turn. It also sat much lower than with two guys . You will be hunting hard bottom + shallow water so draft is extremely important. An 18 will draft less than a 16 with a 3 man load. If you could find a lightweight 18 flat, that would be best.

Just get one with Reverse Don't let nobody pull your pecker!!Reverse is the shit!

First - Mod V is a performance reduction on any length MM hull as you
get best speeds with flat, slick, square chine hulls - a pointed bow is
a big plus in timber and tall grass...

Second - I ran a 16x48 with 23LT and ran 16 to 18 mph with 2 guys
but had problems planeing out with 3 guys --- no problem planeing
out with 18x48 and 23LT and better performance in mud too...

A lot of good comments ( with experience ) offered so far.

I've run a 1542 with a 20 hp GD longtail for 15 years and it's fine with two guys and gear, but for 3 guys and gear you will want a 1648+ and a larger longtail ( at least a 27 ).

I am currently putting together a larger rig for 2014, but my CFO ( aka as my wife ) has just trimmed the budget a bit so it looks like a 1648 or 1652 mv jon ( was considering a 1752 ). I'm still wrestling with the motor choice ; surface drive or longtail. I'm 60 years old and I see my strength and stability suffering as I age. If I were younger ( like most or all of you guys ) I'd set up a longtail - hands down, BUT the LT's have a lot more torque and that can put me off balance some times. Running the mixed hard/soft bottom river up here I stand up a lot to read the river, so I reckon I'm more prone to being less stable.

Sorry - don't mean to ramble so much. Based on your description of bottom conditions you encounter the most - I'd say stay with a longtail, but go with a 27 or 35.....you'll never look back.
If you're like my son, who can't seem to go fast enough - then I reckon a surface drive is your answer.

Just my humble opinions, Vic

I use to run a mb 25 lt on a 15.5x42 duracraft semi v and with three guys could get on plane and get around 17 mph. with just me my wife and daughter could do twenty all day. Longtails are good for hard bottoms and can contend with any mud motor in the mud. They are just harder on the operator when it comes to turning in narrow channels. My opinion a lt 25hp or more on a 15 or 16 foot boat.